Here, according to M. Renan, we return to the text of the copy addressed to the church of Rome; for, according to him, chap. 15 formed the conclusion of the Epistle destined for this church. If this view were well grounded, the first verse of chap. 15 must have immediately followed the last of chap.... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves._ ” The δέ, _then_, is progressive. The domain enlarges; it is no longer simply the question of meats, but in general of the relation between Judeo-Christianity more or less legal, of which the party of... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Let every one of us please his neighbor in what is good to edification. For also Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me._ ” The γάρ, _for_, in the T. R., is certainly unauthentic: the _asyndeton_ implies a more emphatic reproduct... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus;that with one accord ye may... [ Continue Reading ]
By the double description of God as the _God of patience_ and _of consolation_, He is characterized as the true source of these two graces which are communicated to us through the channel of the Scriptures. To get them we must therefore go not only to the Scriptures, but to Himself. There is a clos... [ Continue Reading ]
When one common aspiration reigns in the church, secondary diversities no longer separate hearts; and from the internal communion there results common adoration like pure harmony from a concert of well-tuned instruments. All hearts being melted in one, all mouths become only one. And how so? Because... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us_, _to the glory of God._ ” The compassionate welcome which Christ has given to all the members of the church individually ought to be perpetually reproduced in the welcome of goodwill and tenderness which they give one another in all th... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 8, 9A. “ _Now I say that Christ was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, but that the Gentiles glorify God for His mercy;_ ” The gracious acceptance which Jesus Christ has given to men has taken place in two principal ways. In... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And again_, _Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and let all the peoples laud Him!And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, and He that ariseth to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles hope._ ” The third passage is taken from Psalms 117:1. This hymn in honor of Jehova... [ Continue Reading ]
Quotation from Isaiah 11:10. The literal meaning of the Hebrew is: “And in that day there shall be a shoot of Jesse, which shall be set up as a banner for the peoples.”...For the figure of an erected _banner_, the LXX. have substituted the idea of a person rising up to reign; Paul quotes after them.... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now the God of hope fill you with every kind of joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit!_ ” God is described here as the _God of hope_, evidently in relation to the last words of the preceding quotation: “In Him shall the Gentiles hope.” The ap... [ Continue Reading ]
TWENTY-NINTH PASSAGE (15:14-33). PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS. This passage is intended to convey to the minds of his readers full light as to the apostle's conduct toward them. These explanations relate first to this letter itself.... [ Continue Reading ]
EPISTOLARY CONCLUSION. 15:14-16:27. WE have said that the Epistle to the Romans is a didactic treatise, doctrinal and practical, contained in a letter. The treatise is now closed, and the letter begins again. It is easy to show, indeed, that the part about to follow is closely correlated to the epis... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.But brethren_, _I have written the more boldly unto you, as in some measure to put you in remembrance again of these things, because of th... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _That I should be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest in the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit._ ” The grace of apostleship had been given to Paul for the accomplishment of a sublime task.... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in the service of God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and by deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God;so... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And that while making it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: but as it is written, They to whom nothing was said of Him shall see Him; and they that have not heard shall know Him._ ” To confirm the reality of his... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _From which cause also I have been hindered often from coming to you; but now, having no more place in these regions, and having a great desire for many years to come unto you, when I take my journey unto Spain_, _I trust to see you in passing, and to be brought on my way thither ward by you_, _if... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet, agreeably to the principle expounded Romans 15:20-21, his journey to Rome will not, strictly speaking, be a mission, but rather a visit as it were in passing, for the church already exists in this capital. When, Acts 19:21, Paul at Ephesus was forming his plans for the future, it indeed was _to... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _But now I go unto Jerusalem ministering unto the saints. For it hath seemed good to them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. For it hath seemed good to them, and verily their debtors they are; for if the Gentiles have been made partakers of t... [ Continue Reading ]
The expression: _the saints_, characterizes the church of Jerusalem as the most venerable of Christendom; comp. 1 Corinthians 16:1. But it is not to all the church, it is the most indigent of its members, that this service is destined. The idea has often been advanced, that the cause of the poverty... [ Continue Reading ]
The repetition of the: “it seemed good to them,” emphasizes still more forcibly the free-will of the churches in this course. They felt themselves impelled to pay this homage to the church from which the gift of salvation had come to them; they even judged that it was a small matter to act thus in a... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _When, therefore, I have accomplished this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you unto Spain. Now I know that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ._ ” The term σφραγίζεσθαι, _to seal_, has been understood here in many ways. Erasmus explained... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now I exhort you, brethren_, _by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me before God for me in your prayers, that I may be delivered from the disobedient in Judea, and that this aid which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints; that comin... [ Continue Reading ]